Star Atlas

Star Atlas is a permanent commissioned work embedded in a public ground surface. Continuing his interest in astronomy, mysticism, and unresolved forms of knowledge, Bai borrows a visual method in which built space is related to celestial patterns, overlaying a star-map-like structure with outlines of buildings, roads, and the site plan. It is not a coordinate system derived from exact astronomical observation, but a compositional way of placing the sky and the ground beneath one’s feet on the same plane.

Copper, black marble, and stainless steel form nodes, rings, and trajectories that cross the ground. They retain the coordinate-like appearance of star charts and maps without serving a single navigational purpose.

Extending more than sixty metres, the work cannot be seen in full from a single point at ground level. Walking brings nodes, rings, and trajectories into view in fragments, while the complete configuration is more readily legible from above. Bai’s earlier interest in cosmic imagery and diagrammatic structures is thus enlarged to the scale of public space.